Edit: changed title to reflect ID correction from AlxndrBrg (thanks again for that).

Stack of 210 images at 2.1x (Linoscan 90mm film scanner lens). The FoV is about 15mm wide. Background is a quick bit of fakery - just a blurred shot of some undergrowth dropped in with Affinity Photo. Bored of black!

Last edited by Beatsy on Sun Jun 10, 2018 10:06 am; edited 1 time in total

Nice, but its not an Ichneumon sp., nor is it Ichneumonini or Ichneumoninae, but it belongs to the Ichneumonidae though
Should be the subfamily Campopleginae, something like the genus Dusona.

Oh, and its a female, the ovipositor is quite short, but visible

Gosh - I honestly thought, for once, I'd actually nailed the ID myself (using online resources). I'll look it up tomorrow and edit as appropriate. Appreciate the info - even if it has rather burst my bubble!

It is frustrating to be so consistently rubbish at ID'ing insects though...

Gosh - I honestly thought, for once, I'd actually nailed the ID myself (using online resources). I'll look it up tomorrow and edit as appropriate. Appreciate the info - even if it has rather burst my bubble!

It is frustrating to be so consistently rubbish at ID'ing insects though...

Thanks all for the other comments too.

I'm sorry to have burst your bubble, perhaps I should add that Ichneumonidae (and the Ichneumonoidea as a whole) are extremely morphologically diverse with colour patterns and shapes recurring all over the place - trying to ID them to species (or even genus/tribus) is basically impossible unless you are a real dedicated expert. So dont consider yourself rubbish at ID'ing insects, apart from a handful of experts the rest of us in the world are in the same boat

I really recommend the "Hymenopterist Forum" on facebook for ID's of most hymenopterans. You British people are lucky in that Gavin Broad from the NHM is active there, he's "rather" good at Ichneumonoidea